Trevor Walsh, bus entrepreneur

Trevor Walsh, who has died at 88, was the founder of a Halifax bus company and one of the first independent bus services in the UK.
Trevor WalshTrevor Walsh
Trevor Walsh

He had started work at 14, and by 20 had decided that his future was on the road. The following year, he took his first driving test – not in a car but a bus, then a lorry. From then until the summer just gone, he was at the wheel.

He eventually settled into driving coaches and then minibuses for Abbeyways, for its owner and his friend, Geoffrey Wainwright.

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In 1983 he founded TJ Walsh Minibus Services to run contracts for businesses and the local authority, and when in 1987 transport services were deregulated, he was one of the first independent companies to apply to run a bus service

However, after nine years, a decision to take all the contract work in house meant he had to look elsewhere.

He set up a “happy bus” service to and from the local market, which that grew eventually to carrying 1.25m passengers a year.

When he retired from driving, he became a “customer assistant”, helping passengers on and off the buses in the town centre.

He and his late wife Vera, nee Walsh, had four children, six grandchildren and five great grandchildren.